'UP govt suppressed Maha Kumbh death toll,' says Rahul Gandhi, cites media report

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday cited a BBC report to allege that the number of people who died in stampedes during the Maha Kumbh was suppressed by the Uttar Pradesh government and accused the BJP of having no accountability.

"BBC report reveals that figures of deaths in Kumbh Mela stampede were hidden. Like in COVID, the bodies of the poor were erased from the statistics. Like after every major railway accident the truth is suppressed," he said in a post on X.

"This is the BJP model - if there is no counting of the poor, then there is no accountability either!" the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha said.

On Tuesday, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav cited the same media report to accuse the Uttar Pradesh government of lying about the death toll in the January 29 Maha Kumbh stampede and said that those who provide "false statistics" are not worthy of public trust.

Yadav made the remarks in a post on X, citing a BBC report which claimed that 82 people died in the stampede. The toll is significantly higher than the official figure of 37.